rivers, spreading across the whole width of them, 
watching for and gobbling up the smolts, which 
are now in great numbers coming down river on 
their way to their marine feeding grounds. The 
presence of great shoals of herring sile in the 
close inshore waters also helps to account for the 
presence of the cole and cod fish.’’ 
I EEGRET to have to record the death of an 
estimable lady, well known in angling circles, 
Mrs. Macdonald, of the Bunrannoch Hotel, Kin- 
lochrannoch, which took place on Thursday week, 
in the district and by all who had her acquain- 
tance Mrs. Macdonald was much respected. The 
illness from which she succumbed was acute, and 
had continued for a considerable time. Mrs. 
Macdonald had attained the age of seventy-three 
years, during more than the half of which she 
had conducted the hotel business at Eannoch. 
A.y Inverness-shire correspondent says : “After 
waiting patiently for over two months, anglers 
have at last been rewarded by copious showers of 
rain. losterday a heavy thunderstorm swept 
over the district, the rain came down in torrents, 
and appearances now justify me in saying that 
we are to have a good spell of it. The streams 
at present are flooded, and the lochs and rivers 
are rising steadily. This should bring up a good 
stock of fish, and sport will again he actively 
®°Saged in. Trout fishing wdll also improve. I 
hear Mr. Moore has rented Loch Oich and the 
Kiver Garry for the month of June, and I feel 
confident he will get the best sport of the season.” 
Mr. David Murray, tackle maker, Brechin, 
writes: The trout fly-fishing season is advanc¬ 
ing, aM yet, though it should now be about its 
best, there are few good baskets being got, in 
consequence of the terribly low state of the'water. 
indeed, save but for a few large trout got at 
night with the natural minnow and the par-tail, 
the trouting might be said to be at a standstill, 
beveral times rain has threatened, but the hopes 
ot anglers have been raised only to be 
^ain cast down into an even lower level. 
Yesterday we had thunder and some heavy 
showei^, but not enough of a fall to move 
the Rivers North and South Esk and 
their feeders. In weather like this anglers 
must do one of three things to relieve their 
teelmgs—use bad language, gloat over past 
successes, or build castles in the air for the 
iuture. A local tyro, hearing that big things 
were doing at night on the South Esk with the 
worm hastily procured a supply and started off 
to fash long before the screech of day. Of course 
he could not see far in front of his nose, but he 
made a cast into a piece of still water, and after 
a few seconds he had a tremendous pull at the 
line, which was followed by a splashing on the 
service of the water something awful. The line 
ran out like lightning, and this so terrified him 
tnat he threw down the rod and bolted all his 
j ancient city. Arrived there he 
called his friends together, and, with hair stand¬ 
ing on end, he told them of the fright he had got 
with a monster of the deep that had run off with 
his rod and line. They were somewhat sceptical, 
but he asked them to go with him and tee tor 
themselves, which they agreed to do. By this 
time the sun was up, and when they arrived at 
the scene of the midnight fright, lo, and behold! 
there was the miller quietly fishing over the pool 
with the lost rod. It appears that one ot the 
Millers ducks had bolted the bait,and the miller 
having got hold of it and taken out the hook, was 
now having a cast with the rod which had been 
deserted by the terrified angler. The roastino’ 
the latter has received over this incident has, urn 
fortunately, caused him to give up fishing 
altogether; in fact, he has not, that I am aware 
of, got back the rod, or asked it back, from the 
miller. 
iBotes anir (J^u^ries 
M.\rked Fish Re-captured.— A number of fish, 
winch were captured, labelled, and numbered at 
the instance of the Scientific Department of the 
bcotch I ishery Board, have been recaptured in 
Me vicinity of Anstruther Bay, on the east coast. 
One, a codling, caught last week, which had been 
labelled a little over six months, had migrated 
only miles from where it was set down, but it 
had added 2Ln. to its length. Another, caught 
some time ago, was labelled for three months, and 
had migrated about fifteen miles, and grown lin 
longer. 
Experijiexts with Trout Rearing in the 
Sutiierlandshire Locus.—Some years ago Mr 
Morrison, of the Reay and Melvich Hotels 
Ihurso, established a fish hatchery of his own 
for the purpose of replenishing with trout the 
twenty odd lochs attached to his hotels. The fry 
deposited about four years ago have thriven so 
well that some of them are now caught at over 
11b. Ill weight. Finding the experiment a success 
Q.Y A?Aprocess, and recently distributed 
000 fry as follows, viz.: Loch More, 8000: 
Lcmh Baligill, 5000; and Loch Beag-nah-Eaglais, 
5000—?hese from his own hatcheries. In Loch 
Coulbackie he placed 2000 American brook trout 
fry, and from the Duke of Sutherland's hatchery 
he distributed 5000 amongst Lochs Acron, Cur- 
ragb, and Seilg. The young fry took well to their 
new homes. Last year Mr. Morrison deposited 
22,000 fry amongst his lochs, so that, notwith¬ 
standing the drain annually made on them by 
southern anglers, they are likely to improve 
instead of deteriorating, as in other places. 
E-Xperiuent in Mussel Culture.— The Nairn 
fishermen have just concluded a series of careful 
and prolonged experiments in mussel culture, 
with re.sults beyond all expectations. A sheltered 
tidal bay, with a deep channel running into it, 
was selected four years ago, and there a few tons’ 
of mussel seed about the size of beans, scraped 
off the adjacent rocks, were laid down. Although 
the bottom was composed of soft shifting sand, 
the seed took hold in a few days, and within 
eleven months they had attained the size pre¬ 
ferred for bait—“two for a hook.” A second 
experiment with seed from the Bay of Findhorn, 
which is said to produce the finest mussels in the 
kingdom, brought about similar results. Within 
a year they reached the requisite size, but were 
allowed to remain for another season. Last week 
they spawned. More interesting still is the fact 
that the fishermen who used these home culti¬ 
vated baits, returned with the heaviest shots of 
fish this season, while men fishing from the same 
boats with the imported mussel had miserable 
takes. The results attained show that re-stocking 
of depleted home mussel-walks will settle the bait 
question. 
dous preparations made in the Lake District, in 
which Lakes Windermere and Coniston will 
reign supreme, and the contemplated arrange¬ 
ments in respect to the Eden, visitors to the 
northern fishing-grounds will, at a very early 
date, have a high old time of it Halcyon ” 
in Weekly Edition of Leeds Mercury. 
It is greatly to be regretted in his own interest 
and for the additional reason that a lovely place 
will be cut off to the tourist, that Mr. J. G. 
Fleischman, Invergloy Hotel, has come a cropper. 
Vvith his two years’ tenancy of Invergloy, he 
must have sunk about £1500. He did quite a 
lot to improve the streams by making them more 
accessible, and by introducing salmon, sea-trout, 
and Loch Leven trout to them, but for all he has 
spent in this way he will not now realise a penny. 
Armathwaite Dam.— At a meeting of the Eden 
Fishery Board last week some resolutions were 
passed which should greatly improve the salmon 
fishing on that splendid stream, and attract a 
greater number of salmon fishers to visit it. Mr. 
Ooulthard proposed that a salmon-pass should be 
erected at ttie weir known as Armathwaite Bay, 
which, except in certain conditions of the water, 
has always proved a serious barrier to the ascent 
of fish to the higher lengths of the river. In 
addition to that, destruction of ova existed and 
disease resulted, as the fish lay crowded in a cir¬ 
cumscribed part of the river. A long discussion 
ensued. Captain Chamley, of Warsop, was of 
opinion that the board should not only erect 
a suitable pass at Armathwaite, but also at all 
other necessary parts of the river above that point. 
Eventually Mr. Coulthard’s motion was carried, 
fifteen of the members of the board voting for it, 
and seven against. The Watching Committee were 
therefore authorised to commence operations at 
once. A motion by Mr. W. Routledge, that a 
salmon 2s. fid. licence for rod and line for one 
day be issued, was adopted. Concerning these 
innovations, the editor of the Fishing Gazette 
remarks in last week’s issue, “ This will be good 
news to anglers who intend paying a visit to the 
north countree. What with the new and stupen- 
Let us hope that Dinsdalo Dam on the river 
Tees is doomed. It has been the subject of a 
Board of Trade inquiry, conducted by Mr. 
W. E. Fryer. We know of several dams which 
are bad enough, but, according to Canon Tris¬ 
tram, D.D., F.R.S., this “ Dinsdale Dam is the 
most obnoxious obstruction in the United King¬ 
dom. As far as he had been able to ascertain, 
there was no other obstruction which, taking into 
consideration the surrounding circumstances, 
was so fatal to the increase of fish as that dam. 
The so-called fish pass was an imposture and a 
fraud. It professed to do that which it did not 
do. Last autumn he watched the dam for three 
hours, and counted ninety leaps a minute, and in 
the three hours only nine fish got over the dam.” 
Inspector Mabon, who was watcher for the 
Fishery Board for twenty years, spoke of fish 
being stunned and killed in their attempts to get 
over the dam. More fish were found dead in the 
spawn-time below the dam than in the whole of 
the rest of the river. He had known 500 fish to 
be taken in one night by a shackle-net below the 
dam. Layer over layer of ova was deposited 
below the dam, and only the last layer came to 
maturity. 
Extraordinary Adventure with an Eagle.— 
A Galashiels tradesman has just had an unique 
adventure with an eagle on the hills between 
Steele-road station and Riccarton Junction. It 
happened between twelve and one o’clock of the 
day when the sun was shining in a cloudless sky. 
He was startled by an unaccountable shadow, and 
almost on the instant was struck on the head and 
his hat knocked off. On looking up he saw a 
large eagle hovering over him, and poising for 
pother swoop. Fortunately he had an umbrella 
in his hand, and with it he managed to defend 
himself. The eagle swooped upon him nine or 
ten times, but he always succeeded in driving it 
off'. The express train from the North passed 
along about this time, and the eagle then flew off. 
Capture of a Seal in the Ythan. —Sergeant- 
Instructor Ferguson, of the Newburgh Yolun- 
teers, Aberdeenshire, shot a very large seal in 
the river. The Ythan is one of the finest sea- 
trout and finnock streams in the kingdom, and 
pnters the sea by an estuary some miles in length. 
Here the amphibious stranger had taken up his 
abode at the New Year, for ever since Christmas 
he has been almost daily observed disporting 
himself among the trout at one place or another, 
and many a jolly feed no doubt has he had. He 
has been often in the toils of the nets even, but 
always managed to escape. He has been shot at 
by renowned marksmen from far and near, but 
not till the Sergeant’s bullet struck fur the other 
morning did he roll over, and his protracted 
poaching career thus brought to a satisfactory 
close. Sergt. Ferguson has to be heartily con¬ 
gratulated on his lucky capture. 
Poaching on the Tweed.— James Dunlop, a 
stocking maker belonging to the famous little 
manufacturing toon o’ Hawick, on the Teviot, 
was hauled up the other day, or rather he ought 
to have been hauled up (as tlie defendant did not 
appear) before Sheriff Dundas, Berwickshire, at 
the Jedburgh Sheriff Court, charged with having 
no less than eight foul salmon in his possession 
On the road between Kelso and Maskerton,at aplace 
near Craigover. Dunlop was convicted and fined 
£2 lOs., or ten days imprisonment. Mr. Dunlop 
had evidently been making good use of his time 
on the River Tweed, no doubc m order to give the 
smaller stream nearer home, the Teviot, a wee bit 
of a rest. How these Border rivers must be 
watched passes all comprehension; indeed, in the 
face of all the vaunted precautions we hear so 
much of, poaching on the Border is as rampunt as 
ever it was in the old shekel net, four-pronged 
leister, and snatching days.—Q. 
